The day my air fryer tried to cook a frozen burrito and almost started a fire

Last Tuesday I threw a frozen burrito in my air fryer at 400 degrees for 12 minutes like I always do. But I guess the tortilla got stuck to the heating element because smoke started pouring out and my smoke alarm went off. My neighbor banged on my door thinking my apartment was burning down. Has anyone else had a frozen burrito go rogue in their air fryer like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamieburns14d ago

Check your air fryer manual because most recommend preheating first for frozen foods.

richard_west514d ago

My buddy Gary got one of those basket air fryers last year. He never reads manuals, just tosses everything in cold. One night he dumped a bag of frozen fries in there and set it for 12 minutes. Came back to a basket half full of soggy, pale fries and the rest stuck to the bottom like glue. He was steaming about it for days. Finally he looked it up online and felt like an idiot when he saw preheating is basically the whole trick for frozen stuff. Now he preheats every time and says his fries come out perfect.

morgan.joseph13d agoOG Member

Wait, did you try shaking the basket halfway through? That's what finally fixed it for me when I had the same problem with frozen tater tots. I don't even bother preheating half the time (my air fryer has that annoying beep that never seems to stop), but I found that if I pull the basket out at the 6 minute mark, give everything a good shake, and then pop it back in, the bottoms don't stick and they get crispy all around. Gary might want to give that a shot too, especially if he's forgetful about preheating like I am. It's a game changer for those cheap frozen fries that always seem to glue themselves to the basket.